Research in Motion today confirmed that it will no longer produce the 16GB version of its troubled BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

The 16GB PlayBook, however, will still be available in stores while supplies last.

"We continue to remain committed to the tablet space and the 32GB and 64GB models of the BlackBerry PlayBook continue to be available from our distributors and retailers around the world," RIM said in a statement.

The announcement comes six months after RIM said it would take a $485 million hit related to lackluster sales of the PlayBook. At the time, RIM said the pre-tax provision was necessary because the company was sitting on a huge PlayBook inventory that it could only clear out by drastically slashing pricesin some cases from $500 to $199.

RIM announced the PlayBook in Sept. 2010. The 7-inch tablet included a 1024-by-600 multitouch capacitive display, designed around a dual-core, 1-GHz Cortex A9 microprocessor backed by a full gigabyte of RAM. The tablet ran QNX's mobile operating system, as well as HTML5 and Flash, with native hardware support to accelerate the apps further.

The 16GB PlayBook is still listed on blackberry.com for $199. The 32GB will set you back $249, while the 64GB version is $299. That's a far cry from the original pricing of $499, $599, and $699, respectively.

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University...
More »